Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The 5-minute Christmas gift...

When most of your friends live far away and your Christmas budget is restrained, adding postage costs to your expenses can too often tip that budget over the edge.

I have met some of the loveliest sewing friends during my ten-year journey in this craft, and almost all of these friendships have been nurtured online, so the expense of sending a gift to each of them at this time of year does add a little stress to the bank account.

This Christmas I made the decision to scale back on gifts for friends far away to something small but sweet; something that could be posted inside a card.

You see we have grandchildren and children who live far, far away, and next Christmas there will be two more precious babies to welcome into the clan, so we are being mindful of the future and saving our pennies for family gifts and the added expense of posting parcels.

When planning what I could send my sewing friends inside a Christmas card this year my thoughts rested on what I'd love to receive, plus I took into account the number of comments left on the blog and in emails about the pretty pins displayed in some of my design photos.

About mid-year I searched on Etsy for pretty handmade decorated pins and found a lady in Canada who had exactly what I was after.

After gathering some scrap wool felt, pinking shears, a pack of gorgeous "Make A Wish" Foundation cards, double sided tape and those pins, I had five gifts made in 5 minutes.

Today the envelopes will be addressed and stamped, then off to the Post Office so they can arrive before Christmas.

Other card ideas are bookmarks, a pack of vintage or pretty buttons, a length of delicate lace, or what about the free little needle kit I shared HERE last year?

If you have other ideas for gifts that can be posted inside a Christmas card please leave them in the comments below as I know we'd all love to add them to our current or future gift giving lists.

In fact, preparing small gifts like this during 2016 means next Christmas we can shop from our own 'store' of goodies and get those presents in the post early.

I love all of your ideas and tutorials. Sometime during this past year I joined in on the hexie flower swaps on instagram. The finished flowers are folded in half (taking out the paper from the center hexie) and mailed in a regular or card sized envelope. I thought this would be a nice little gift

Yes the cost of postage/shipping is truly making gift sending prohibitive to those of us on a budget. I save my change all year long so it becomes my Chrstmas Mailing Fund in December. This year I took Manila shipping tags (or good card stock) and crocheted an edge on the bottom. Then I Mod Podged (watered white glue also works) a free cut out from a magazine or wrapping paper onto the tag. Added a ribbon to the top and you have an ornament or bookmark or ???. So far they have been well received and it lets friends know I am thinking of them. Love your ideas Jenny Dear. Merry Christmas...

Lovely idea. They are gorgeous. Postage is ridiculous. I firmly believe the economy would benefit if the cost would reduce. I know Australia post are in difficulty but I would purchase more if the costs weren't so great. More volume. - more revenue! I paid $2.55 each card I sent overseas this morning x 5. Not to mention the cost of the card too. Ah well. It is Xmas.

Very clever ideas there Jenny. It is often the simple things that bring joy and I am sure your gifts will be most welcome. The fact that you took the time to think of something special is more than enough. Angel hugs.

We might be shopping at the same Etsy shop, Jenny! I bought something very similar for a friend who really loves snails. ;) I didn't have as cute a presentation, though, so I'm going to have to step up my game here! I think you are wise to scale back now. Save all year for the cost of mailing. Postage just keeps getting worse and worse everywhere. It's gotten to the point that it's almost as cheap to send by private carrier here when I have a box. I trust the post office. They've never lost anything, though two things in my life have been misplaced for a short time, never broken anything. But the cost is becoming prohibitive!

Gorgeous gift Jenny. You are so clever and everything you make is just gorgeous. Postage is very prohibitive these days. Often the postage costs more than the gift inside. May you and your family have a beautiful Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Thank you for your delightful posts. So inspirational. What would I do without my daily Jenny Fix. Merry Christmas and thanks. Glenise

It's always nice to receive feedback on a blog post, so *thank you* for taking time to comment!I will try to reply via email unless you are a 'no reply blogger' which means you'll have to check for my reply in the comments. Of course, life is a rather hazardous activity, isn't it? So if I don't respond to your comment that's the reason why - life simply stepped in...hugsJennyx